By Scott Gilfoid #1 WBO middleweight contender Billy Joe Saunders (21-0, 11 KOs) will be getting in a stay busy fight on July 11th against an opponent still to be determined at the Velodrome, in Manchester, UK. The idea is to get the 25-year-old Saunders some work in to get him ready for his September 19th title shot against WBO World middleweight champion Andy Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs) at Thomond Park Stadium, Limerick, Ireland.
Saunders hasn’t fought since last November when he defeated Chris Eubank Jr. by a 12 round split decision at the ExCel Arena in London, UK. In looking at how badly Saunders gassed out in the 2nd half of that fight, I think it would have been a good idea to keep Saunders in training camp up until now because he really looked terrible with the way that he fell apart over the last six rounds of the fight.
I mean, if Eubank Jr. had started a little earlier in putting the pressure on Saunders, he would have won going away. As it was, Saunders barely got the win by the scores 115-114 and 115-113 for Saunders, and 113-116 for Eubank.
“We just want him [Saunders] to get some rounds under his belt,” Saunders’ promoter Frank Warren said about his July 11th fight via Frankwarren.com. “He [Saunders] has developed into a quality fighter with a great chin, and that’s what he will need against a thumper like Lee. I would fancy my man to win it.”
I don’t know if the southpaw Saunders if up to the task of beating Lee. Saunders doesn’t have much in the way of punching power, and he barely beat John Ryder three fights ago. We saw how Saunders fell apart against Eubank Jr. In both of those fights, Saunders gassed out badly in the last part of the fight, and I thought the scoring in both fights was simply ridiculous. I mean, I had both Ryder and Eubank Jr. beating Saunders.
In analyzing why Saunders looks so awful in the last part of his fights, I think it has to do with all that running around he does in the ring in the first half of his fights. Saunders moves way too much and wastes a lot of energy. With the kind of movement Saunders does, he fights like he’s in an 8 round bout rather than a 12 rounder. Saunders needs to get a trainer that can teach him to calm down, and stop running around in a senseless manner. I think they would do well to dump his current trainer, and get him someone like Virgil Hunter to team Saunders to stay in the pocket and defend himself rather than getting on his bike and running until he can no longer run.
Saunders will obviously destroy his July 11th opponent because we’re talking about a stay busy fight for him. But against a big puncher like Lee, I don’t think it’s going to work out well at all for Saunders. Lee keeps his punching power late in his fights, so when Saunders stops running and gasses out by the 7th round, Lee will be waiting to clip him with a big right hook and then out of the way while Saunders does a nosedive into the canvas for the 10 count.
That’s pretty much how it’s going to go unless Saunders can stop all that awful running and just fight. The guy needs to go down with the ship. If he can’t beat Lee by standing in the pocket against him, then he certainly isn’t going to beat him by running all around the ring for 12 rounds hoping to nick rounds every here and there and get lucky.
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